England openers survive ordeal by fire after South Africa top 400

Andrew Strauss hits through the leg side at the start of the England first innings against South Africa. Photograph: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

England survived ordeal by fire on Friday evening. The South African quartet of pacemen who had tormented England at the Oval and buoyed now by a first innings total of 419 – riches after being put in to bat – thundered in at Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook for 18 overs before bad light and then rain brought things to a premature conclusion with 22 overs of the day still to be bowled. Occasionally the ball seared past the bat for AB de Villiers to take above his head.

But there may have been a little too much urgency too on the part of the bowlers. Morne Morkel lost his radar as he can be prone to do (although that does not necessarily make him less dangerous and arguably more so given the unpredictability that goes with it), Vernon Philander was ignored outside off stump and played comfortably when straighter, and Dale Steyn, hurling himself down the hill from the Kirkstall Lane end, was furiously fast and skiddy but could find little of the swing that makes him the most dangerous bowler in the world.

If the England innings began in watery sunshine, then gradually the light degenerated and batting became a matter of survival. Only a single run came from the final five overs before Steve Davis and Rod Tucker decided that enough was enough. Now England can regroup and hope for a morning as bright as the one that greeted the second day. Although Strauss edged Morkel's first delivery – from round the wicket, naturally – only fractionally short of third slip, he, like Cook, who is unbeaten on 20, has batted chancelessly in making 19, the opening stand worth 48. It is not yet riches, but it was an important statement and a start.

Earlier, it had taken England considerably longer than they would have hoped to finish off the South Africa first innings, largely down to Alviro Petersen, unbeaten on 124 overnight, whose eventual 182 is the highest of the four centuries he has made in 15 Tests and the second highest by a South African in a Test on this ground, after Eric Rowan's 236 made 61 years ago. England wickets were largely spread among the seamers, although at a cost (Anderson, with two for 61 from 33.2 overs, the most economical). But there was also a wicket for Kevin Pietersen, who in a rare foray with the ball found disconcerting turn to dismiss Jacques Rudolph.

If, with the second ball still new, England had expectations of finishing off the South Africa innings without too much further damage, they were disabused of that idea by Petersen and Rudolph, who batted with great good sense almost through the first session before they were parted by a part-timer. Anderson and Broad came at them hard first thing, offering nothing with six straight maiden overs before the first run came but crucially having no success: effectively they were openers seeing off the shine.

Only 32 runs came in the first hour, and the sixth-wicket partnership had reached 59,with Petersen well beyond his 150, when with the interval approaching, Strauss turned, fingers crossed perhaps, to Pietersen's off-spin.

His second ball was an eye-opener, pitching around middle to the left-hander Rudolph and turning very sharply past the outside edge. It was a sharp piece of work by Matt Prior that removed the bails with the batsman stretching forward and after considerable scrutiny the third umpire, Asad Rauf, deemed him to be out of his ground, although that was not obvious to most observers.

It was, however, considerable food for thought for the England captain, for in omitting Graeme Swann they had deprived themselves of a real spin option. It does remain a statistical fact, though, that neither England nor indeed visiting spinners have enjoyed any real success at Headingley (in part because they often do not get a game). If Monty Panesar, with 10 wickets, is England's most successful twirler on this ground in the past 16 years, then Pietersen now joins, in second place, a support cast of Mike Atherton, Graeme Hick, Richard Illingworth and Ashley Giles, each with one.

It makes the presence of Imran Tahir in the South Africa side just a little more pertinent than it may have been.

England required all of the second session to finish things off but not before South Africa had added 101 for the last four wickets, as had England precisely at The Oval: the value of lower-order runs is inestimable these days.

Petersen's vigil of almost nine hours came to an end when he edged Broad to Prior although, despite a significant deviation, Tucker failed to pick it up, perhaps because of a simultaneous noise as the batsman hit his pad; it required Rauf's intervention once more to overturn the not out decision.

He should have been caught in the first hour of the match, when 29 and was twice reprieved by DRS when deemed lbw, but the boos that accompanied the batsman to the pavilion after a tremendous effort were unedifying: he is entitled to stay at the crease even if there is much pontificating about "walking".

Philander then holed out to deep square leg to give Finn a second wicket, and two catches to Cook, one at mid-on and the other at second slip, got rid of Morkel and finally Tahir right on the stroke of tea, leaving JP Duminy unbeaten on 48.